UN
Staffer Injured In Somalia
Reduced to 1 Potato A Day As
Guterres Thumbs His Nose and
Spox Censors Press
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive, CJR NYP
UNITED NATIONS
GATE, October 8 – How little
do UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres and those
supporting his censorship care
even about UN staff? The
answer, or non-answer, was
again found on October 8, when
in lieu of the UN noon
briefing Inner City Press was
banned from for the 97th day
it asked Guterres Spokesman
Stephan Dujarric in writing
questions including: "October
8-4: As a matter of how Mr.
Guterres' UN treats injured
staff members I am requesting
by close of (your) business 5
pm the UN's response to the
detailed tale of staff member
[redacted for now] “severely
injured my spine serving in
Mogadishu; this has resulted
in so far two major surgeries,
my termination from service
and, cancellation of health
insurance seven days following
my last surgery (ASHI was
eventually provided several
months’ later). The issue I,
and other SM’s are having is
with the appendix D supposedly
in place to protect us when we
are injured. On one hand, the
UN is happy to admit that due
to these service-incurred
injuries I am disabled,
awarding me a disability
pension; to the extent that it
will not be reviewed for a
minimum of five years
(apparently anything over two
years ‘ in the eyes of the law
is classed as a permanent
disablement) however, when it
comes to the processing of my
appendix d claim they refuse
to make any progression at
all, in fact, they have done
nothing for over two years’
claiming they are unable to
ascertain if my disablement is
permanent or not. What they
don’t seem to care about is
the fact that due to this
injury and their continued
incompetence/refusal to
process claims or, stick to
their own rules and
regulations contained within
the appendix, they are ruining
SM lives.” When Dujarric
replied with no answer on
that, instead citing a
statement he made on Cameroon
with no chance for Press
follow up and passing the buck
on refugees, Inner City Press
reiterated the question, with
the complainant's name and a 5
pm deadline. There was no
response at all, and by 6 pm
even the video of the noon
briefing Dujarric cited had
not been provided. So here is
more of the story of the
complainant: "It has now been
two and a half years since my
claim was filed and, one since
my termination from service
yet they have done nothing
towards my case, refuse to
answer any emails and, on the
few occasions, they do respond
they ignore the questions
asked etc. This loss of
income, the increased medical
expenses and, refusal to
process the compensation claim
in line with their own rules
etc has left my family on the
brink of bankruptcy for the
last year now, they are fully
aware of the financial
struggles I face all due to
these injuries with multiple
departments being informed of
this fact in an attempt to see
a resolution, yet they just
don’t seem to give a
damn. It has got to the
point now where I spent the
last three weeks’ eating one
potato a day so I could keep
food on the kid's table, we
have run up so much debt that
each month it is a struggle to
the power on and keep our
house, the UN know this and
couldn’t care less." UNlike
Guterres' spokesmen (and
deputy and chief of staff and
Global Censor Alison Smale,
all cc-e on Inner City Press'
question), the complainant
answered questions. Inner City
Press asked, among other
things: "do you mind saying
how / in what context you were
injured? Where do you live
now? Which departments of the
UN have you been in touch
with?" The complainant
replied, "Thank you for taking
the time to get back to
me. I injured my lumbar
spine in Mogadishu whilst
performing my duties a as
close protection officer for
the SRSG. Initially I put it
down to nothing more than an
awkward movement and carried
on. However, over the coming
months’ things became
progressively worse, with an
eventual diagnosis of a
severely herniated disc and
cauda equina syndrome; this
lead to the removal of the
discs at L5-S1 and, the
insertion of an implant.
Following around three months’
on sick leave both my surgeon
and the UN medical services
cleared me fit to return to
duty (this was the initial
point of maximum medical
improvement they are so keen
on before they will progress
my case) however, over the
next six months’ my condition
began to deteriorate, in the
Aug of 2017 it was eventually
confirmed that my initially
surgery had failed and I had
to have it all done again in
the Nov of last year. Seven
days following the surgery the
UN terminated me and cancelled
my health insurance leaving me
with no way to pay for
medication, physio etc etc and
then proceeded to take nine
months’ to fully finalize my
separation from service/pay
all monies owed. They are now
using the excuse that they
will not progress my case any
further until the point of MMI
has been reached, my argument
has been that that point had
been reached, hence them
clearing me to return to work
and, that is only due to their
incompetence and not looking
at my case since it’s
submission over two years ago,
that they conveniently managed
to coincide it with the
failure of my original
operation and having to wait
to reach MMI again. Initially
correspondence was done
through the mission HR in
Mogadishu, they however, are
useless and couldn’t answer
any questions, in addition
they took 13 weeks to send any
information requested by the
ABCC. I then started to go
directly to the ABCC liaison
in HQ NYC, again she was not
very forthcoming with
information or, very good a t
responding to emails/requests
for information. In the later
part of 2017 they ceased to
respond to any emails with me
just receiving an
auto-response telling me to
contact the support office in
Kuwait. For the last
year communications with KJSO
have been few and far between
with again zero information
coming my way. They only
reason I managed to find out
nothing further would be done
is because I filed for a UNDT;
However, this was declared
moot as the ABCC upon
receiving it agreed to pay
outstanding medical expenses a
year and a half late, that
whilst the judge did say to me
that what was happening was
morally wrong, I had not
contested a decision.
OSLA refused to represent me
in this instance, being
self-represented it would
appear I didn’t articulate my
issues clear enough or in the
correct legal context (I had
been lead to believe that not
making a decision, was a
decision in itself, and
foolishly to what was written
in the appendix, as what would
actually happen; it turns out
they are able to interpret
however they see fit).
Throughout this whole process
not one person has had the
courtesy to explain exactly
how it all works, why, despite
what the rules may say why
things are not being acted
upon etc and each time I ask
anything it is either ignore
or skirted around." This is
Guterres' UN - and he should
be fired. For an event in the
UN about human rights, with
speeches by Secretary General
Antonio Guterres and High
Commissioner Michelle
Bachelet, Inner City Press on
September 26 was ordered out
of the waiting line despite
having a ticket. A UN Security
official, a Captain known as
Tiny, told Inner City Press it
is under a ban from
headquarters even though that
has never been conveyed in
writing, much less subject to
any hearing or appeal. Video here. What is the basis of the
ban? While not conveyed in
writing, because Guterres' UN
is a corrupt censor, Guterres'
Office of the Spokesperson has
told the following lies in
support of the ban. They claim
falsely that Inner City Press
"took a swing" at UN Security
on July 3 - when in fact
Lieutenant Roland E Dobbins
and his unnamed colleague
initiated and monopolized the
use of force, video here.
They say that a
correspondent's media filed a
written complaint. If this is
Voice
of America, that was
years ago in 201s, and BBG
told Congress it was a mistake.
If it is Al
Jazeera in June 2018, it
is shameful. Finally they say
that Inner City Press pursued
a diplomatic down the sidewalk
asking questions and that this
somehow showed they had no
security guards, putting them
at risk to others. This seems
to refer to the time the UN
neglected to disclose Guterres
was meeting in the public's
$15 million mansion with the
P5. For this reason, Inner
City Press staked it out,
entirely legally, from across
Sutton Place. UK Ambassador
Pierce emerged, found no car,
and walked home. Inner City
Press did not ask any question
and is allowed to film -
particularly noting Guterres
total lack of transparency.
These are all lies, pretexts
for censorship. We will have
more on this, having writtten
earlier on September 26 to
Michelle Bachelet, David A.
Kaye and their staff members.
This comes as Inner City Press
is told by sources close to
Guterres that he was and is so
angy at Inner City Press'
anti-corruption questions and
reporting that he is intent
maintaining a life time ban,
even as he blathers about
human rights. His Deputy Amina
J. Mohammad and chief of staff
got along; troublingly, new
Commissioner was written to
but did nothing. Her staff
handed out tickets in chaotic
fashion on 46th Street, to
such insiders as Richard
Dicker of Human Rights Watch
which has done nothing about
the lawless "permanent ban"
list of the UN that HRW loves
so much. But for new
Commissioner Bachelet to be so
quickly corrupted or defanged?
We'll have more on this. On
September 24 for a Financial
Sector Commission on Modern
Slavery and Human Trafficking,
Inner City Press was on
September 24 singled out and
banned, despite having its
RSVP accepted by the Mission
of Liechtstein and even UN
University. Video here.
In the early afternoon of
September 25, Inner City Press
sent this to Antonio Guterres,
and also High Commissioner for
Human Rights Michelle
Bachelet: "Secretary General
Guterres: This follows up on a
telephone call I made to your
chief of staff's (and Deputy
SG's) offices yesterday
afternoon when I was blocked
from attending an event in the
Trusteeship Council Chamber
about launching an Initiative
for a Financial Sector
Commission on Modern Slavery
and Human Trafficking.
I am writing now
because I am intent on
attending, and have a right to
attend other events this week,
for example the human rights
event with HCHR Bachelet on
Wednesday, 26 September, at
1115 am in Conference Room 2,
see below. I have RSVP-ed, and
cc this message to High
Commissioner Bachelet and her
two assistants.
It is unacceptable for the UN
to have an UNdisclosed and
UNexplained "current and
active banned" list with no
due process and no appeal. It
is akin to no-fly lists with
no appeals process. This must
be resolved, in particular for
the September 26 UN "human
rights" event.
I was invited to the modern
slavery event -- I investigate
and report on the misdeeds of
banks, and did so before
I came to the UN to cover it
in 2005 -- and my RSVP was
accepted. I picked up my
ticket at 2:45 pm on 46th
Street, showed it to the
officers on Second and First
Avenues and stood in line at
the Visitors Entrance with
others going to the event.
They all were admitted but I
was singled up and told to
wait by the side. After a time
a Department of Safety and
Security official told me I am
subject to a “current and
active barred notice.”
Since all I have received from
the UN, since being assaulted
by DSS Lieutenant Dobbins and
another on 3 July 2018 as I
staked out the Fifth (Budget)
Committee meetings having been
invited there by several
member states' diplomats in
those final meetings, is an
August 17 letter stating that
my accreditation as a
correspondent is withdrawn, I
asked who is behind this
target “current and active
barred notice.”
The officer would not tell me.
I asked if it is USG Drennan
of DSS, whom I wrote to on 5
August 2018 (“REPORT OF
PROHIBITED CONDUCT
(HARASSMENT, ABUSE OF
AUTHORITY) AND ‘FORMAL
COMPLAINT’ SUBMITTED TO UN
UNDER SECRETARY GENERAL FOR
SAFETY AND SECURITY, MR PETER
DRENNAN, PURSUANT TO
ST/SGB/2008/5.” Receipt of
that was confirmed to me on 8
August 2018 by Elena
Rice-Howell, Special Assistant
to the Under-Secretary-General
of DSS.
But nothing has been done by
DSS, including about my formal
complaint of assault against
Lt Dobbins and his colleagues
who refused to give their
names. This whole sordid
descent into censorship by the
current UN was profiled, along
with SEA, Haiti cholera,
conflicts of interest and
travel cost waste, including
the issue of yours, and
whether and where you
disclosed your son's business
connections, in the New York
Post two days ago, here.
I was told yesterday I
should contact DPI - whose USG
Alison Smale never spoke to me
before withdrawing my
accreditation and has not
answer any of my ten e-mail
nor a petition with more than
5000 signatures urging her to
restore my access, my office
S-303 and stop targeting me as
I report, sometimes
critically, on the UN.
So I called your chief of
staff's (and Deputy SG's)
offices, just as the event I
had RSVP-ed to began, and I am
outraged by the lack of
response. I have written to
each of them this morning,
still no response, even as I
picked up another RSVP ticket.
This should be responded to
immediately. Matthew Russell
Lee, Esq., Inner City Press."
On September 24
the slavery bank event ran
from 3:30 to 5 pm in the UN's
Trusteeship Chamber. Inner
City Prss arrived 45 minutes
early to the NYPD security
checkpoint at 46th Street and
Second Avenue. Its ticket was
accepted by NYPD, it prepared
to audio record the event --
but at the UN Visitors
Entrance a large UN Security
Officer or Capitan nicknamed
Tiny said No, it was his
understanding that Inner City
Press is entirely banned from
the UN, not only as a
journalist. "You have a
current active barred notice
against you," he said. Audio here.
Inner City Press
asked him if this came from
the boss of the Department
Safety and Security Peter
Drennan, who has not responded
to Inner City Press formal
complaint to him that it was
assaulted by UN DSS Lieutenant
Ronald E. Dobbins on July 3.
He said it was not from chief
Michael “Mick” Brown. Who
then? He refused to say. “You
have to call DPI,” he said,
referring to the Department of
Public Information whose chief
Alison Smale has not answered
a single on of Inner City
Press' more than 10 e-mails.
Inner City Press called the
office of Secretary General
Antonio Guterres' chief of
staff Maria Luiz Viotti and
informed them; they said that
she would be told. Hours
later, nothing. Inner City
Press called the office of the
Deputy Secretary General Amina
J. Mohammed, and was told that
the head of office, seemingly
Nelson Muffuh, could or would
do nothing. Then Inner City
Press called the office of
Alison Smale, where a person
named Charlotte said she would
look into and call back. Hours
later, nothing. Audio of Inner
City Press' side of calls, here.
Inner City Press was never
given a hearing by Smale
before her August 17 letter
with withdrew Inner City Press
media accreditation. Nothing
in it said anything about a
ban from entering the UN as a
person, a tourist, or in
another other way. But this is
what happened, without any
recourse. Pure Kafka-esque
censorship, by a former New
York Times Berlin bureau chief
to hinder coverage of the
corruption of the former
Portuguese prime minster
Antonio Guterres, see
September 23 New York Post
here. What next? Watch
this site.
***
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